The city of San Leandro has agreed to pay $187,500 to settle federal civil-rights suits filed by two women who said a then-police officer groped them while he was on duty.

The civil settlements resolve claims lodged by Jennifer Acuna and Starlah Burke against former Officer Greg Cannedy, who retired from the department in 2007 and is awaiting a criminal trial in the case. In a ruling Friday, a state appeals court ruled that an Alameda County Superior Court judge improperly recused the district attorney's office from prosecuting Cannedy.

In September 2006, Cannedy allegedly leaned over Acuna in her kitchen and began kissing her before grabbing her hand and putting it on his crotch. Acuna will receive $92,500.

Cannedy is also charged with groping Burke during a traffic stop in 2005 after she repeatedly rebuffed his romantic overtures over a period of months. Burke will receive $95,000. The city is not admitting any wrongdoing, said Kimberly Colwell, an attorney representing San Leandro.

"Greg has maintained his innocence throughout this, and he has denied engaging in the conduct alleged," she said.

Eric Safire, an attorney representing both women, said, "I think that we as a citizenry should be assured that before people are awarded that kind of responsibility, that they're trained and don't act inappropriately.

In a rare move, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Michael Gaffey granted a motion in 2007 by Michael Rains, another attorney for Cannedy, requesting that the state attorney general's office prosecute the case instead of the district attorney's office.

According to Rains, prosecutors were considering calling a female employee from their office as a witness against Cannedy. That woman, who worked as a stenographer for seven years at the district attorney's office in Hayward, had accused Cannedy in 2006 of inappropriately kissing and touching her in 2002 or 2003, but she wasn't named as a victim in the criminal case because the statute of limitations had expired, court records show.

On Friday, Justice Patricia Sepulveda of the First District Court of Appeal of San Francisco said Gaffey's recusal decision was uncalled for.